WED Forum: SUICIDE: Classic to Temp, Popular and Dangerous Topic

Suicide has become one of interesting human behaviors since the early civilization. Alber Camus in The myth of Sisyphus said, “The only interesting philosophical question worth asking is suicide.” Recently, the rate of suicide has risen sharply. It happened in all level of society regardless of one’s profession, education, economic status, religion, age and gender. The increase rate of suicide globally has forced suicide as an urgent subject that need to be discussed, comprehend and understood deeply in order to prevent it.

In the past, many religions and cultures considered suicide as a daunting and taboo subject but recently the study of suicide has developed and creates a new branch of discipline named “suicidology”. The main anchors of this discipline are psychology- psychiatry, sociology, and biology. Interestingly the increase and deeper study of suicide as an attempt to prevent suicide is followed by the high increase rate of suicide, Why?

This presentation aims to address the broad development and issues in suicidololgy with the hope to bring new approach in suicidology that may contribute to the prevention of suicide in our society.

Speaker

Wiranata Adisasmita

earned his master degree in Biotechnology of Gadjah Mada University. His research on Apoptasis (process of programmed cell death) or suicide in the cell level leads him to do research on suicide in the most complex entity called human being. Currently he leads a center for research and prevention of suicide named Kunang-Kunang in the Pesantren al Qodir, Yogyakarta. Download his paper on suicide (in Indonesian) at Bunuh Diri: Topik Klasik, Menggoda, Populer, dan Berbahaya.